Ireland – Irish broadcaster RTE today confirmed that their national final, Eurosong, will take place on February 22nd 2013 as part of “The Late Late Show”. As for the last two years, 5 acts will be ‘mentored’ for the contest. It’s rumoured that one of the mentors will be an ex-Eurovision winner. Will it be Linda Martin again after last year’s failure with Jedward? Johnny Logan? Dana or Niamh Kavanagh? Put it in your diary.
The Eurovision Times 
I recently read elsewhere on here about a female trio called Affiniti who write their own songs with a unique Celtic flavour and make use of one of the most under-utilised instruments in Irish music – the harp, I seriously hope that one of the mentors thinks out of the box and tries to get these talented ladies on board instead of the usual nondescript acts with hardly one iota of real musical talent.
Hello Martin. Glad you haven’t gone too far. and well done to those who are keeping this site going. I thought it would die. I’ve never heard of Affinitti. They sound good and I’d be happy with that. do you have a link for them? I’d agree with you that Irish entries have been poor in recent years. Sinead Mulvey was the last decent winner we had. I personally am not fussed either way on the mentoring system. I think its a marketing gimic by RTE mostly. I suppose it might help to polish some performances.
I’ve always liked the idea of Sharon Shannon performing and writing a song with an appropriate singer. Jack L. would be good to, or even Mr. Emotional Fish. Ah sure lets throw in Ronan Keating and Bono to.
Actually I just got a text message from Julian Vingoles its official Zig and Zag are going to make a comeback. Start the rumour now. Podge and Rodge on backing vocals. My apologies to the world are wondering what I’m on.
Hi J K F Irish
Affiniti were mentioned on another thread on this site (Ireland: Odds Are For Leanne Moore) so I went delving and found out they were once called Celtic Rose but have changed to Affiniti and their first EP called ‘Rebirth’ is to be released on 4th December. Here is a link to their version of Evanescence’s My Immortal and also Elbow’s One Day Like This. Hope you like as much as I do. :)
Oh, how I would to have a Celtic song from Ireland. It has been too few times so far. I loved The Vard Sisters in 1998, but the song they participated with in 2011 was a huge disappointment.
My favs are Celtic Woman, eventhough they only do covers, so it doesn’t feel like they’re up for ESC in the nearest future.
The CW version of “The voice”. She’s much better than Eimear when it comes to gasping and breathing, but I think I liked the ESC version of the song better when it comes to the arrangement. Still enchanting, though.
Loved this version too, It would be nice to have a Celtic flavoured song back in the contest but with modern elements and not as dated as the last Vard Sisters effort.
Off topic, Italy has announced it’s participation once again in 2013, Hooray :)
Yes Martin Affiniti are good, and would be a good representative for us. So will we e-mail this link to Julian Vingnoles?? The first song is excellent. They have a great presence in their performance and would be a tonic after Jedward.
It reminds me of Albania last year. the difference being that this girl is not screaming.
That sucks, I really dislike that you talk about, you should suggest Lee Hutton from ex band Industry who participated in Dansk MGP last year! Or reunite of Irish band Industry for ESC, that would be GREAT!! :)
Wouldn’t do any harm to drop Julian an email although I wouldn’t be surprised if these things are already well in hand. I did drop the girls a pvt message through Facebook so you never know. ;)
I wish they’d change their selection method. I don’t like the mentors idea. They seem so indulgent, like they’re only there to make it the talk-show it is. :( Let’s hope no Jedward this time!
Jedward have disappeared from the media for months now, and they have already said they will not return. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who knows we may have a real contest this year?
I’d like Lee Hutton from ex band Industry to represent Ireland! Or Nikki Kavanagh! I’d like RnB ballad!!
Nikki was good two years ago and should have bet Jedward. Who knows maybe she should be the one. I think it would still be good to have a genuine modern Celtic influenced song.
Hi J K F
I tried contacting Julian Vignoles but he has now left RTE! I gather that the new Head of TV Entertainment is Paul G Sheridan (also Head of Religious Programmes!) but he is on leave until the end of the month. I assume it is he who will be dealing with Ireland’s Eurovision participation for 2013..
As I said I would contact RTE’s Mr. Eurovision and i guess we both got the same answer. This is the reply I got:
As of Friday, the 19th of October, I no longer work in RTE.
Disappointing really that he’s gone because he was well regarded in ESC land, also I believe he loved the contest and had a good understanding of it, which is handy if you are the head of delegation.
I don’t know anything about Paul Sheridan?????
The leaving of Julian from RTE is a big loss for Irish Eurovision.
Part of the problem is rte staging of the selection contest. Lets face it the late late show is the most boring show in the world, Ryan turiby the host puts everyone to sleep. When rte move away from sleepy late late show and stage an interesting selection final people singers song writers will become interested in winning.
A comment Julian Vingoles said about the Late Late and Eurosong was that after the toy show it was the Late Late’s biggest audience, and at a time when viewing figures usually slump. Also it is an extremely cheap way for RTE to do the Eurosong thing.
If I remember rightly the last time there was a proper programme for Eurosong with sent a Turkey puppet who was only fit for the dustbin. So the format of selection unfortunately guarantees nothing. What I don’t like about the Late Late thing is that Ryan obviously doesn’t like the ESC and also they only give us 5 songs to choose from. We should have more say in the pre-selection process.
Quite a few people on the chat forums have expressed a desire to hear an Irish Eurovision entry sung in Gaelic. Quite a few entrants have tried down the years with only one succeeding in winning the ticket to represent Ireland (Ceol an Ghrá – Sandie Jones in 1972)
One band I would love to see have a go hail from my original home town, Belfast and were originally formed to promote the Irish language in the North – Bréag are a Gaelic singing Reggae/Ska band with Celtic rock influences.I have booked them again to perform in the village where I now live next month and am really looking forward to their visit. I think they’d certainly make an interesting choice. Here is one of their songs Lá Jah. Check out their other tracks to be found on YT include An Peaca, Paidir, Goltrai & Bóthar Mór. Hope you enjoy.
Another band I love are from Derry and they play a fusion of Gypsy/Kleismer music, They’re called Balkan Alien Sound and I’ve managed to have them play in our village a few times too. They’ve had a few line up changes lately but are also worth checking out on YT. Cheers :)
Hi Martin. I prefer Afiniti, but sure anything is better than Jedward.
I’ve checked out Affinití and would have to agree with you guys. They sum up exactly what the Irish entry should be. They’re amazeballs! Hopefully someone in RTE will hear of them and pick them up.